US approves $892 billion aid package !
The US House of Representatives passed an $892 billion coronavirus aid package on Monday aimed at throwing a lifeline to the nation’s pandemic-battered economy, clearing the way for Senate approval later in the evening.
The House in a pair of bipartisan votes also passed a $1.4 trillion measure that will keep the U.S. government funded for another year, which will also go to the Senate for consideration, reports Reuters.
The relief bill, which would become law if passed by the Senate and signed by President Donald Trump, includes $600 payments to most Americans as well as additional payments to the millions of people thrown out of work during the COVID-19 pandemic, just as a larger round of benefits is due to expire on Saturday.
The White House has said Trump will sign the bill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, urged lawmakers to support the virus relief bill even as she complained it did not include the direct aid for state and local governments that Democrats had sought. She said they would try for it again next year after Democratic President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
The bill, she said, “doesn’t go all the way but it takes us down the path.”
Republican Representative Hal Rogers, who supported the package, said “it reflects a fair compromise.”
